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Tuition Accidently Went to Collections
Actinguy1
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey all! I'm in the military, and recently took several college classes on the taxpayer's dime. Unfortunately, due to a series of TDY's (military business trips, basically), life events, and my own stupidity, I never submitted the paperwork to actually get the taxpayers to pay for it. I assumed it was taken care of without actually checking.
It's now a year later, and a self-credit-check shows that the tuition is now in collections. I've already called the military people, but you're supposed to send the forms before you even start the class. Trying to submit the forms a year later is not going to get me anywhere.
I have money saved up...enough that I could even pay it off in full...but my girlfriend and I are both about to be unemployed as we are moving across the country, and I'd rather have the money for emergencies.
Any advice on the best way to handle the collections? Especially if there's any way to improve the credit rating?
Thanks as always!
tl;dr My own stupidity has resulted in my tuition going to collections. Advice?
EDIT: Because it might be asked: The tuition is roughly 2500.
It's now a year later, and a self-credit-check shows that the tuition is now in collections. I've already called the military people, but you're supposed to send the forms before you even start the class. Trying to submit the forms a year later is not going to get me anywhere.
I have money saved up...enough that I could even pay it off in full...but my girlfriend and I are both about to be unemployed as we are moving across the country, and I'd rather have the money for emergencies.
Any advice on the best way to handle the collections? Especially if there's any way to improve the credit rating?
Thanks as always!
tl;dr My own stupidity has resulted in my tuition going to collections. Advice?
EDIT: Because it might be asked: The tuition is roughly 2500.
Actinguy1 on
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Theres really not a whole lot else you can do. You can talk to the school if you want, but they already sold your debt to the collection agency. I'm not sure what talking to the military is going to do.
Unfortunately its practically impossible to negotiate with collection agencies if you are trying to reduce the amount you owe.
I believe they would probably be amenable to some sort of payment plan though.
so plenty of collections agencies are flexible as to both timing and amount of pricing. you'd have to be able to stand up to them on the phone, though. no personal experience with bill collectors, who are the scum of the earth, so i'd google it.
Though, you just took a hit on your credit for it. You'll have more room to negotiate if you pay it in full. If you say "Sure I'll pay, I'll pay it in full if you reduce it to _X_" and you may have luck with that. Though, probably not.
You're lucky though, 2500 isn't a lot especially with all the debts collecting nowadays due to the economy downturn so you're lower priority in the collections queue.
To give you an example, I owed $3000 in CC debt (I was young and very stupid). I settled it this last January for a whopping $700.
The one thing that may be of concern for you, though I'm not sure if it applies in this situation. A defaulted student loan can prevent you from getting future student loans unless they are rehabilitated. Was this a loan or just a straight tuition bill? It's something you want to look into if you plan on taking more classes going forward.
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Whoa, what.
You can do this?
I've currently got a CC debt (also from when I was young and very stupid) which I'm looking at getting rid of. I didn't know you could negotiate.
Thing with that, though, is if they think it's possible you'll have to file for bankruptcy or something before you can pay up, they'll want to get what they can from you. $700 isn't $3k, but it's better than the $prettymuchnone a credit card debt agency would get if you went bankrupt.
Since student loans are immune to a lot of the intricacies of bankruptcy law, it's possible you won't have as much wiggle room there. I have no idea.
The 3000 bill to 700 is exactly the kind of advice I was hoping for. I'm hoping the fact that I'm about to be unemployed will help in this negotiation? I'm certainly not on the verge of bankruptcy (Aside from a perfectly reasonable car payment, I have no other debt), but "I have no job and I'm living with my dad" (as I will be when I get out) certainly makes it sound like 2500 won't be swingable for a while, right?
EDIT: Also, aside from an e-mail from the school saying they were going to send the bill to collections (a LONG time ago, which I've just recently discovered for the first time), there has been zero contact from collections. Any reason to kick back and wait for them to contact me, am I in a better position contacting them, or does it make no difference?
School loans are immune to bankruptcy to a point, they aren't immune if they're obscene, most can be forgiven through debt release like bankruptcy if you can prove that it's going to make you broke all over again. And courts get really fucking pissy when loans and banks don't work with you to manage debt. Especially if you've made the "I'm really trying to work with you but you're being assfuckers."
Though, $2500 is nothing, the only way I'd be willing to pay it off in collections is if my credit rating is kosher from the lack of calls. If they didn't call you whatsoever and your rating took a ding because of it (who knows, maybe you still thought they were covered in that 6 month grace period) then take it to court.
Supposedly this works, but I'd be interested to see somebody try it. (Just to note, paying the collections off will not make anywhere near the difference to your score as removing the collections would.)
That's "Uh, this is wrong, and I can prove it, if you want to fight this I'll see you in court." There's actually a story about a collections agency that used debt that had been resolved to try and get more money. I think it was even posted here. Rite-aide or something.
They may or may not even be authorized to give partial settlements for this type of thing. Credit card debt is different than tuition fees. If you ask for a settlement and they are authorized, they may very easily still lie to you and say they can't give you one.
Also is there some reason that you can't still be reimbursed by the military (or whatever public agency was supposed to pay for it) ?
I mean, yeah, you didnt file on time to be reimbursed. But they still have a policy where they pay for tuition. You should look into this.
Phone guy acted like I was nuts (after conferring with his supervisor), so I figured I'd look up the policy myself, and then play a good old fashioned game of "GOTCHA!" Unfortunately, the policy specifically says you have to do the paperwork before you even apply for the class (something I legitimately did not know, but also didn't take the time to look up). There might have been some wiggle room if I had caught my mistake while still taking the class, but it's now been a year since the class ended. They're not being cooperative, and I can't really take the moral high ground here because, hey, I f'ed up.
If the "pay and you make my credit score get all better" is true, that's nearly ideal. I only say nearly because while I have the cash, that's basically "all" I have, and, as mentioned before, my girlfriend and I will be unemployed (today is actually her last day, I still have about a month). And I intend to make that girlfriend a fiancee, which requires even more money.
In order of importance, in my mind:
1) Improving credit score
2) Minimizing cost
3) Making it go away
Tell them your situation. You are unemployed, and broke. You are moving because you have no other choice. You'll be able to have a small monthly payment in all likelihood, which you can increase when your situation allows.
You're not being dishonest this way, and you're being forthcoming with your intention of paying it. You really are not in a position to pay all of it right now, and you should tell them such.
I recognize this sounds a little sketchy, but I don't think it's illegal (so I don't think I'm violating forum rules). Again, never done it, but I'm curious if it works. There are step-by-steps out there along with letter templates if you google "pay for removal" or "pay for delete".
http://www.credit.com/rs/vol19.jsp
I'd figure the ding on your credit rating is worth fighting in court over, regardless of how little it the loan costs. If you don't fight it, you can expect to end up paying $texas over the course of several years in other loans just because of it.
Yeah, it does sound too good to be true. The only difference I can see is that in "my" version (not really my version) you're claiming that the collection is a mistake ... which maybe makes it conform to credit bureau rules for removal?
For the OP, if you're planning on paying part of it, I still don't see the harm of trying this as long as it doesn't mean you end up paying more. Either it will get listed as charged off/paid in full, which it would anyway, or it will be removed, which would be great.
Edit: but yeah, a better first step might be to fight it as bowen suggests.
You can get false shit removed from your credit report. It's a pain in the ass, but it's the reason why people aren't fucking devastated for a decade after their identity is stolen. It also keeps sleazy loan companies from being sleazy.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.shtm
Generally, judges frown upon shit like that. You're not defrauding anything, he's still legally bound to pay his loan, just that the collection ding on his report is gone. Two completely different situations.
Actinguy, I'd recommend you take what bowen's saying with a big grain of salt. The simple fact is that you goofed up. I'm not making any broader claims about how stupid you are in general or that you're unscrupulous, but the fact is you blew this as you admit in the first post. There's no magic button to correct how your mistake dinged your credit rating. Plenty of people want to believe that there is, so you'll have no difficulty finding plenty of people who think that there's some magic way to correct the ding to your credit as a result of bad debt. If it was as simple as disputing that the debt is valid, or claiming they didn't notify you then everyone would be successfully disputing perfectly valid items on their credit report and it would be meaningless. Again, at this point you're just looking at getting your debt settled. You're most likely stuck with the ding to your credit.
Ding to my credit rating that I had to report as an error. Legally speaking, it was shaky grounds since I didn't sign up for it and there were absolutely no calls to collect the debt until it was 3 months into collection and the only way I found out was when I tried to get a car.
While I don't know if it would've worked in small claims court, it certainly caused them to back the fuck off.
There's a six month grace period for school loans too, for all he knows, he could've been in that. Especially if he didn't sign exit papers to indicate he was leaving.
Repeat after me, "Did not follow proper procedures before sending to collection and reporting to the credit agencies."
It wasn't a loan so there was no grace period. Honestly, I'm shocked that they allowed him to finish the classes. I know at my current school you get all your classes dropped if you don't pay up by the first week of class.
OP, you'll have to get it taken care of at some point. I'm throwing in with calling them and explaining that you are unemployed. Do not mention a settlement number. Ask if there is any way you could get this taken care of at a lower amount. The thing is, debt collectors almost all work with a quota. They need to set up a certain amount of payments each month or they can be let go, at least all the companies that have approached me with employment opportunities work that way (damn you call center experience.) If you seem willing to settle this they are usually more willing to work with you. Just be firm and don't let them rattle you.
PSN Hypacia
Xbox HypaciaMinnow
Discord Hypacia#0391
Please.